British Prime Minister Theresa May has won the government's support for a draft plan to leave the European Union, but now she faces a much more dangerous battle to win the support of parliament.
"I know that there are difficult days ahead of us. This is a decision that will be intensively re-examined," said May after the five-hour session.
More than two years after the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU in a referendum, the Prime Minister told reporters outside the residence in Downing Street that she had won a divided cabinet, in which some prominent "brexitists" were also present.
"I firmly believe that the draft withdrawal agreement is the best that could have been achieved," May said as protesters chanted anti-Brexit slogans from the end of the street.
All eyes are now on the "Brexiters" in the Cabinet - whether any of them will resign in protest at the content of the deal, which the Prime Minister hopes will satisfy both Leave voters and EU supporters, ensuring continued close ties with block.
May now faces an uphill battle to win the support of the British parliament, where opponents have criticized her deal even before it has been read.
Many MPs in her Conservative Party, as well as Labor and other opposition parties, are skeptical or even openly hostile to her Brexit plans. Northern Ireland's DUP party, on which Prime Minister May depends in parliament, has already said it is likely to vote against the deal because it believes it will lead to the breakup of the UK.
It is not known when the parliament will vote on the agreement. To win support, May needs about 320 votes in the 650-member parliament.
The ultimate outcome for the UK is uncertain: scenarios range from a peaceful break-up to rejecting the prime minister's deal, potentially ending her rule and leaving the bloc without a deal, or another referendum. It is a possibility that May has consistently ruled out.
For the EU, which is reeling from successive crises over debt and immigration, the loss of Britain is the biggest blow yet to 60 years of efforts to create European unity after two world wars.
May, who initially opposed Brexit and was elected in a post-referendum tumult, has staked her future on a deal she hopes will solve the Brexit conundrum: rewrite the EU while maintaining the closest ties possible. However, she satisfied few.
Brexiteers in the Conservative Party, which has been divided over Europe for three decades, said the prime minister had surrendered to the EU and would overturn the deal.
Ahead of the prime minister's address, the BBC reported that anger among Brexit-backing Conservative MPs is so great that they are likely to call for a vote of no confidence in her as party leader today.
Her leadership could be called into question if 15 percent of conservative members of parliament write letters to the chairman of the party's 1922 Committee, demanding a vote of confidence. The committee consists of MPs who are not in the government.
The Conservatives have 315 MPs, which means that 48 of them need to write such a letter for a vote of confidence.
The United Kingdom is due to leave the EU on March 29, 2019. In the 2016 referendum, Britons voted 51,9 to 48,1 percent to leave. The UK and the EU have been trying for more than a year to agree on how divorce will work in practice and what future relations will look like. After the agreement was approved by negotiators and the British government, it now needs the green light from British MPs and eventually the 27 EU members.
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